


EXO FANFIC RECOMMENDATIONS: a quintessential list

by Huaner



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Daddy Kink, F/M, Horror, M/M, Mafia AU, Mpreg, Organized Crime, Recommendations, Survival, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:35:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6100512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huaner/pseuds/Huaner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><div class="center">
  <p>EXO-Centric / Various Pairings / 99% Slash<br/>The riveting, the superb, and the obscure, for readers with high standards and selective tastes.</p>
</div>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bluff by Twoglances

**Author's Note:**

> For a long time now, I've wanted to organize my favorite fics into one convenient, easily accessible location, so why not kill two birds with one stone and make a recommendations list at the same time? As you may have gleaned from the description, a large portion of the fics on this list will be EXO-centric and boyxboy-based. Every one of these stories have, as I so eloquently put it, hit me in the feels and left me thinking about them long after I've finished the last available chapter. Rated stories and fics with trigger warnings will be appropriately labelled as such. That being said, my tastes can be a bit heavy at times, so do expect a hefty amount of the aforementioned variety.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: This is merely a recommendations list; I do not own any of the stories here. 
> 
> Now, lets stop me from rambling and continue to the best of the best that our wonderfully talented authors have offered!

**Title** : Bluff

 **Author** : Twoglances

 **Pairings** : Taoris, Kaisoo, Hunhan, Baekyeol, Taohan

 **Genre** : Crime/mafia AU

**Rating** : R

**Warnings** : Sex, violence, unapologetic portrayals of a̶w̶e̶s̶o̶m̶e̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ psychopathy

Read it [here](http://twoglances.livejournal.com/1205.html)

**Summary** : Huang Zi Tao finds himself in the middle of a crime syndicate power struggle and is forced to take sides. In order to survive the game, Tao is forced to play by the rules.But the war between cards isn’t as straightforward as he first assumes, and he realizes that alliances, betrayal, and affairs run rampant beneath the calm surface. He’s the only one following the guidelines, and it’s probably going to get him killed.

**Thoughts** : This fic is one of the main reasons I started this list. Putting my love for mafia AUs aside, this is one of the most engrossing, intriguing, and damn well entertaining stories that I have ever read. It doesn't get nearly enough love. I have a feeling if the author transferred her story to a wider platform, she'd garner a lot more attention. The suspense constantly keeps you on your toes and the sheer tension in some scenes can be sliced with a knife. This is a quintessential mafia AU, and the writer doesn't screw around. Who can resist an innocent, peace-loving Tao forcefully rammed into a society laced with betrayal and deceit, where cold-blooded murder, illicit lust, and borderline psychopathy occur on a day-to-day basis? I certainly can't. My favorite character is Chanyeol, and I'll leave it at that.


	2. Love Me Right by Weirdhybrid

 

**Title:** Love Me Right

**Author:** Weirdhybrid

**Pairings:** Chenxing, baekyeol

**Genre:** Romance, smut, angst

**Rating:** Explicit 

**Warnings:** Age gap, light BDSM, blood kink, breathplay, daddy kink

**Summary:** In which twenty-eight year old Yixing meets young, enigmatic Jongdae in a bar and finds himself in quite a pickle. They are brought together by violence, but they stay together because they are exactly what each other needs.

**Read it** on [AFF ](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/974794/love-me-right-romance-exo-chenlay-xingdae-laychen-xiulay) or [AO3](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4034671/chapters/9073252)

**Thoughts:** Meek, overworked, living-in-the-shadow-of-his-charismatic-BFF salary man Yixing rescues and takes a coy, bar-hopping, barely-legal Jongdae back to his apartment and things spiral out of control from there on. The highlight of this fic is no doubt the relationship between its two leads: so morally wrong, yet irresistibly titillating and harrowingly realistic at the same time. The characters are fleshed out beyond the roles of their kinks, into people with real problems; and for me, that’s what makes this story stand out above the countless other kink fics in the fandom. I love it when authors explore the psychological reasons behind the way characters behave, and weirdhybrid does that incredibly well. The story is still going strong at 21 chapters, so feel free to head over and give the author some love!

 


	3. Candle to the Devil by Mamihlapinatapei

**Title:** Candle to the Devil

 **Author:** Mamihlapinatapei (aka Twoglances)

 **Pairings:** Kaisoo, Taoris, Hunhan, Xiuchen, Sulay, Baekyeol

 **Genre:** Victorian **/** Steampunk!AU, zombie!AU, action

 **Rating:** PG-13

 **Warnings:** b̶a̶d̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶z̶o̶m̶b̶i̶e̶ ̶s̶l̶a̶y̶a̶g̶e̶ violence

 **Summary:** A horrifying sickness has forced the world’s survivors to live in cloistered, protected cities. But the cities begin to collapse mysteriously from within. With threats appearing from all sides, in the center of England’s hold on the East, a group of unlikely companions form.

 **Read it** [here](http://twoglancesandarefusaltoact.blogspot.ca/2013/01/candle-to-devil.html)

 **Thoughts:** The historical zombie AU you never thought you needed in your life. What if the world was overrun by a virus in the 1800s that subjected the masses to rabid, cannibalistic symptoms? What if, instead of history progressing as we know it, Korea opened its doors to the west in order to prevent infrastructural collapse under the weight of the pandemic? For me, the highlight of this story is definitely the world and politics in which the author has created. Everything is so well-developed and so articulately explained; minute details that could’ve easily been missed added so much complexity and depth to the story. The author definitely did her research, and it shines through brilliantly. This story reads like an action movie; a page-turner which left me yearning for more when I finished the last available chapter. Although the two stories fall under different usernames, _Candle to the Devil_ is written by the same author who penned _Bluff_ , so it’s no wonder this story is so freaking good. And just like _Bluff_ , I feel this fic is waaaay under-rated, so please feel free to head over and give the author some love <3


	4. The Long Way Home by Flowergirl

**Title:** The Long Way Home

 **Author:** Flowergirl

 **Pairings:** Chanbaek, past!Kaibaek

 **Genre:** Country!AU

 **Rating:** M

 **Warnings:** Implied Mpreg, Dead!Jongin

 **Summary:** Byun Baekhyun left his hometown with forty three dollars and a guilty heart. He came back with a bruised eye and his eleven year old daughter. Park Chanyeol likes to think that he hasn’t been waiting for this moment. The truth is he’s been waiting nearly all his life.

 **Read it** [here](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/917513/the-long-way-home-exo-baekyeol-chanbaek)

 **Thoughts:** I seldom read country AUs (since, well, there aren’t many in the fandom… if any), but this one reeled me in from the get-go. The characters are incredibly sympathetic, and the entire atmosphere gave me a sense of forlorn regret and bittersweet nostalgia. The author incorporates aspects of the country life so seamlessly that I felt as if I was really in the countryside reading this. Not many stories can immerse me so completely and it just shows how wonderful the author is at tone-setting. Also, I have a huge soft spot for lone bachelor!Yeol and single parent woobie!Baek, of which there is a lot in this fic lol.


	5. 48 Hours by 辛辛息息 and Lukais

**Title:** 48 Hours

 **Author:** Originally written by 辛辛息息; translated to English by Lukais

 **Pairings:** Kray

 **Genre:** Horror, survival, mystery

 **Rating:** R

 **Warnings:** Violence, character death

 **Summary:** “After 48 hours, only one boy will be alive in this house.”

 **Read** the original [here ](http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1820645117?see_lz=1)and the translated version [here](http://lukais.livejournal.com/296.html)

 **Thoughts:** Basically like battle royale, but with your favorite exo members and an extreme time limit.

I feel like 48 Hours is the fandom classic that nobody ever talks about, and I can understand why. It’s raw, it’s intense, and it’s depressing af. Nobody wants to see their biases turn face and tear each other apart in a desperate game of survival. By the time I finished this fic, I had to take a step back and disengage myself from exo for a while, simply because the story was still so fresh in my mind. That, to me, speaks volumes to how impactful this story is. The author does a great job in exploring the psychological nuances behind the characters’ feelings and actions—how would each member react in this kind of situation? Who would be the first to form alliances? Who would be the most selfless? Who would cave under pressure? Who would be mentally and physically strong enough to ultimately survive? To me, each individual’s reactions were believable (well, with a few exceptions… this story was written waaaay back in the day, when Kris had yet to be exposed as ‘Krease’, so he may have been more composed than realistic lol). Luhan's character, in particular, struck a chord with me. I feel like he would act exactly like his character if he were stuck in such a situation in real life. Unsettling? Very. Intriguing? Like a morbid, beautifully orchestrated train wreck you can’t tear your eyes from.


	6. Walk With Me by Jindeul

**Title:** Walk With Me

**Author:** Jindeul

**Pairings:** Sekai, Baekyeol, Kaisoo

**Genre:** Horror, romance, angst, walking dead/zombie!AU

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** Violence

**Summary:** Oh Sehun, a normal student from Seoul High School, tags along on a deadly field trip that turns his world upside-down. After narrowly missing a horrible death in the clutches of the undead, he joins another classmate and fellow survivor named Kim Jongin on a survival quest to face the horrors of their destroyed and zombie-infested world.

_"Walk with Me" is a fanfiction version of the AMC television series, The Walking Dead, featuring all members of Exo. The setting is post-apocalyptic South Korea, where the outbreak has spread from Seoul outwards to neighboring cities. Besides the location change and chapter plots, all story concepts in the fanfiction are alike to the original version of The Walking Dead._

**Read** it  **[here](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/656447) **

**Thoughts:** If you like the Walking Dead comics and/or television series, you’ll absolutely LOVE “walk with me”. The author does an incredible job capturing the gritty atmosphere, raw desperation, and humanity of the original series in her fic. It’s interesting to see a group of individuals with vastly different (and at times clashing) personalities, morals, and survival strategies band together to live in the zombie apocalypse. Some of the scenes, character decisions, backstories (oh, the backstories) and relationship progressions left my jaw on the floor. In my opinion, Jongin’s character development in this fic is, at times, reminiscent of Rick’s from the Walking Dead. Take that as you will.

On a closing note, I never thought I’d be one to beg, but it’s been almost half a year since the author updated. PLEASE UPDATE, DAMN IT //sobs


	7. Moonlight by Memefucker69

**Title:** Moonlight

**Author:** Memefucker69

**Pairings:** Kaisoo

**Genre:** Romance, angst, smut

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** Switching

**Summary:**

_"Let's count together for me,_

_the bite marks_

_that I left on you."_

 

Kyungsoo, a vampire hunter, can't bring himself to let go of the one person who has left him.

**Read it** [here](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/817740/moonlight-angst-romance-vampires-exo-kaisoo)

**Thoughts:** Kyungsoo and Jongin are vampire hunters. One day, Jongin is bit on the job. Rules dictate that bitten hunters should be killed before they transform into mindless, blood-thirsty monsters. Kyungsoo can’t bear to kill the man he loves, so he hides the recently-turned Jongin in his house.

This fic is romantic, heart-wrenching, and angsty af. The love that Kyungsoo had for Jongin was simultaneously sweet and tragic; because it only wore Kyungsoo down the more he struggled to protect the creature who was but a shadow of the man he once loved. If I had the capability to shed tears over a fanfic, the ending on this puppy probably would’ve made me cry. This story was inspired by the EXO song “moonlight”, and that should give readers a bit of an idea as to the tone of this fic.

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted to [AFF](http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1092430/exo-fanfic-recommendations-a-quintessential-list-exo-recommendations-hunhan-taoris-baekyeol-kaisoo)


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